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On July 3, 2024, the mini-symposium “Biomaterials & Tissue Engineering” of the LOEWE research cluster FLOW FOR LIFE took place at TU Darmstadt. Four experts presented their current research results at this event.

Milica Radisic from the University of Toronto reported on the production of miniature heart tissue (“heart-on-a-chip”), in which cells are cultivated on a chip in order to preserve their specific functions. Wolfram-Hubertus Zimmermann from Göttingen University Hospital presented the “heart patch”, a tissue consisting of heart muscle and connective tissue cells that is transplanted into patients with cardiac insufficiency. Katharina Landfester from the MPI for Polymer Research in Mainz showed her method for producing artificial cells from colloids that can be used for the transportation of substances or as functional units. Aránzazu del Campo from the Leibniz Institute for New Materials presented innovative contact lenses that are coated with living bacteria to release bacterially produced substances to improve tolerability.

The event was rounded off with a poster session in which young scientists presented their research. The event took place in the Georg-Christoph-Lichtenberg-Haus, which provided a unique backdrop.

The interdisciplinary research field of tissue engineering deals with the production of human tissue using various techniques from biology, engineering, materials science and medicine. The aim is to create tissue for applications in regenerative medicine and drug testing. A central aspect is the use of biomaterials as a scaffold for cells to support their functions.